Why exploring a single street can tell us more about the places we visit than any travel guidebook

Going on a holiday is like this in-built way for us Singaporeans to decompress. We work hard and then look forward to spending a well-earned rest in Japan, South Korea or whatever destination fills our fancy.
So when I got the job of hosting the new CNA travel show A Street Like This, it was a dream come true. I was working but also travelling to places I had always wanted to visit: Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Pakistan and India.
But it came with a really odd caveat – I wasn’t actually going around exploring these entire countries and territories but only specific streets.
Yes, it sounds absurd: You travel hundreds and thousands of miles, book flight tickets and accommodation, do your scheduling and then spend your holiday walking along just one street?
But filming the show and actually walking these unique streets rid me of that delusion. It wasn’t absurd at all. In fact, it was eye-opening and multi-faceted in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Let me explain. Streets are like this unique ecosystem within itself. It has the culture of its country and its food and vibe and all that, yes, but it’s really its own thing. Every street I visited stood out in wild and unique ways. They all have their own history, quirky backstories, their own aura.
Take Bangkok’s Charoenkrung Road, for example. To those of us who have been to Thailand’s capital city, we might expect more of the same in this lesser-known street but Charoenkrung makes you rethink your assumptions once you’re there.
It was the first street in our series and for a good reason. Charoenkrung Road encapsulated the idea of how different streets around Asia have evolved. It was Bangkok’s first ever paved road and was once a commercial district, but my experience there was one of inspiration.
The whole street is now a hub of creativity – from art to technology, the citizens there are pushing the boundaries of their chosen form and they have all chosen Charoenkrung as their homebase. And this, in turn, has transformed the street into a pulsating, vibrant pocket that just has a completely different charm from the rest of Bangkok.
The other advantage of spending a great part of your holiday exploring just one street is creating relationships. I don’t mean dating, although I did try my best in Taipei’s love-filled Dihua Street.
I’m talking about the idea of going to the same cafe for your morning brew. The one that’s right around the corner from your hotel where, after two mornings in a row, the barista knows your name and order. You are building relationships with the locals, the people who give you more insight into their culture from a five-minute chat than any tourist trap with all the trimmings will ever give you.
Even with the language barrier, I made lasting connections with the people of Heera Mandi in Lahore. I played the sarangi for the first time with a legit maestro (and got really emotional). I learned about the street’s exceptional history from the restaurant owners, the street food sellers and even the armed guards outside my hotel. They were friendly, giving and fun to talk to.
All because I had become a familiar face. They saw me every day. Walking along the street, smiling (eating, always eating) and just curious.
Try it for yourself. Spend a few days of your holiday on a single street. I guarantee you that after a couple of days, you will feel like you belong. Now whether that’s your idea of a holiday, I don’t know, but it was certainly fulfilling and gratifying. 
There’s one more thing about exploring streets – and that’s the idea of exploration itself.
We can explore countries and cities on our breaks and have a ball of time, but there’s something to be said for really having a go at unearthing every nook and cranny of a street or road – walking through their sometimes byzantine lanes, getting lost and then, every so often, coming across an absolute gem of an experience.
Case in point: East Coast Road in Tamil Nadu in India for the show’s final episode. It is actually a 777 kilometre highway but I explored a very small portion of it that cut through the town of Mahabalipuram.
Now, if I had just passed through this place, I wouldn’t have learnt that it was an ancient port city. Or that it was home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Shore Temple (which is beautiful). Or that sculptors were everywhere.
But I didn’t just pass through the place. I explored. And that’s how I also came across a young local fisherman who was making a surfboard.
Yes, you read that right. He wasn’t just a fisherman but a surfer and surfboard maker. And it was through him that I learned how this historically and culturally rich place was also fast becoming a surfer’s paradise. I explored and was rewarded for it.
What started out as what I thought to be a rather unconventional premise for a series took on a whole new meaning as I went from street to street. By the end of it all, I realised I was absorbing so much from this new approach to travelling. So the next you pass by a street, you might want to stop and linger – who knows what you’ll discover.